Council plans to vote on putting a five-year 1.5-mill park levy on the May ballot just two days before the Feb. 5 state deadline to submit it to the Stark County Board of Elections.

Councilman Mark Cerreta, At-Large, said he wants to see more information on what the city administration would do with the levy funds and the current state of the park department's expenditures and capital needs. He said he hasn't yet decided how he'll vote.

"I want to see the numbers," said Cerreta, who added that he asked for the information two weeks ago. "Is this something we can cut out of the budget?"

Council President Jon Snyder, Ward 4, said gathering that information will take time, so a vote can't take place until Feb. 3.

He said the Stark County Auditor's office has determined that if approved by the city's voters, the levy would raise about $532,043 a year and cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $52 a year.

Snyder said the levy would reduce the park department's reliance on the city's general fund, which has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars from a significant cut of local government funding from the state and the repeal of the estate tax.

Separately, Councilwoman Stephanie Werren, Ward 3, presented a proposal to end the requirement that the council clerk keep verbatim transcripts of council meetings.

Law Director Tim Fox said an assistant to the clerk hired through a temp agency spends the bulk of her time listening to recordings of council meetings and typing up transcripts of the meetings.

State law only requires cities keep minutes that describe what was said in a meeting so the public can understand the rationale behind the decisions.

Fox said removing the requirement of verbatim transcripts for council meetings and for the city planning commission and zoning board of appeals would free up city staff for other administrative tasks. He said only a few residents like former councilman Chuck Osborne request the transcripts, which Fox said taxpayers spend hundreds of dollars per meeting in staff time to have transcribed.

Fox said if anyone wants to know what exactly what was said they can listen to an audio recording of the meeting.

Osborne said it's worth the staffers' time because it provides an accurate and lasting record of what occurred in a council meeting. He said technology can change and the media that the council meeting audio is recorded can become obsolete rendering them unusable in 10 or more years.

rwang 1/21/14 Werren also unveiled a proposal for council to hold its legislative and committee meetings on the same nights, so council only has to meet twice a month rather than four times a month.

But Councilman Doug Foltz, Ward 1, said longer meetings are less productive, and if a council member misses a meeting the person may not attend a meeting for a month. Snyder says he'll put the proposal on the backburner, so he can research what other city councils do.